Disney Vacation Club (DVC)- Overview

I am going to start a multi-part article on the Disney Vacation Club (DVC). This is completely operated by the Walt DisneyCompany. I hope to help you figure out the whole, complicated system. Today I am just going over the most basic information.

1)The DVC is a Disney timeshare. You purchase points at a particular resort for a certain dollar figure per point. There are many variables which I will explain later, but these points are used to stay at one of the Disney DVC resorts. Not every resort on the Disney property is one of the DVC resorts; only the Deluxe Villas are part of the DVC.

2)When you purchase points at a particular resort, there are very specific rules governing when you may book a room at either your home resort or another DVC property. (I’ll explain more about this later).

3)You can buy a DVC timeshare directly from the Walt Disney Company or from one of several of the resale companies.

4)You can pay cash or finance your purchase.

5)There are advantages and disadvantages for buying DVC directly from Disney.

6)The purchase price for each DVC property varies widely and so do the points required for staying in the various properties.

7)There are 4 sizes of rooms in the DVC.

8)There are perks associated with owning at the DVC.

9)There are rules governing use and manipulation of the points in your DVC contract.

10)The points required to book a room at a particular resort varies with time of year which Disney states as high season, low season, and two moderate seasons.

11)You can rent your points out if you don’t use them, but Disney doesn’t sanction this. You must do this through a resale company.

This is just a basic outline of all the facets of buying and owning DVC. I have learned the hard way about a lot of the minutiae of owning a DVC property. I want to spare you from making the same mistakes we made and hopefully provide helpful tips if you are entertaining the idea of buying into the DVC. For us it has been a great experience and enabled us to go much more frequently than we otherwise could have. Tell me if you are more interested in one facet than another. I plan to do articles on each of the above points. Hope you enjoy!